Augusto Pinochet

Chilean dictator who took Allende out of Chile's presidency and installed himself for many years, one of the most cruel, ruthless, right-wing rulers this side of the Equator. For 17 years he maintained a fiercely repressive rule before leaving power. From the time he took over in 1973 in a U.S. backed military coup, the man in the ominous dark glasses devised a series of legal barriers to protect himself from any unpleasant consequences. His armed forces killed or "disappeared" more than 3,000 people, but in 1978, Pinochet pushed through an amnesty law that shielded him and his henchmen from prosecution. His own 1980 Constitution gave him another title: senator for life.

In October 1998 he landed in London, his favorite foreign country, where he shopped, visited and had tea with his old friend, former prime minister Margaret with Thatcher. But then his back flared up and he was forced to have emergency surgery on October 9. On October 16, Scotland Yard detectives presented the heavily sedated man with a Spanish arrest warrant. Since then, he has been heavily guarded, the first head of state who has ever been arrested outside of his own country.

A Spanish judge had sent an order for his extradition in order that Pinochet be judged in Spain for ordering the execution of many Spanish citizens who were living in Chile during his terrifying reign. Chile is divided; many demonstrators picketed in front of the London clinic, chanting leftist "words of order" such as "the people, united, shall never be defeated." Thatcher pronounced herself against the extradition and Pinochet himself claimed that, as a perpetual senator, he has immunity and that a prison sentence is illegal. Embroiled in legal entanglements, he found that there are fewer and fewer places to hide in an international village.